South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday surprised a panel probing high-level corruption by saying that the ruling African National Congress, which he heads, has problems recording some of its meetings — especially that of the party’s Deployment Committee.
Appearing before the the Commission Inquiry into State Capture in Johannesburg in his capacity as ANC leader, Ramaphosa said He said the Deployment Committee often found itself unable to record minutes of some meetings “due to having one meeting after another.”
The president also attributed the absence of minutes of the Deployment Committee between 2012 and 2017 to poor record-keeping of the organisation.
“I think that you can ascribe that to rather unfortunate record-keeping because, in the in the main, the ANC has so many committee meetings — one after the other,” he told the inquiry.
He added: “I think those that are in charge, just take notes. And just take a decision. And then it is communicated.”
Ramaphosa, who headed the Deployment Committee as the party’s deputy president until 2018, was questioned on how cadre deployment within the governing party took place in terms of record keeping.
The hearing continues until Thursday.
NM/jn/APA